generalspeaking

Citizen Backlash in Moscow

"Our country is acting as an aggressor, like Germany in the [Second World] war."
Konstantin Alexeyev, 35, Moscow

"I am concerned about the rhetoric on our TV channels, which disseminate anti-Ukrainian sentiment"
"Ukraine is a friendly country. We should just leave it alone."
Ludmila Shteigervalt, 50-year-old demonstrator, Moscow

Thousands march in Moscow against Ukraine fighting The Canadian Press, 2014 People carry Russian and Ukrainian flags during an anti-war rally in downtown Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Thousands of people were marching through central Moscow to demonstrate against the fighting in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Denis Tyrin)

An estimate of tens of thousands of Muscovites marched in protest through central Moscow Sunday. These are obviously Russians who have not entirely swallowed the official Kremlin version of Nazi Ukraine threatening Ukrainians of Russian origin. And they must plainly have access to various news sources that render an entirely different version of what is unfolding in Ukraine than the official Russian story.

It's hard to believe that any Russians believe there is nothing amiss in their country ordering the annexation of Crimea, a legal piece of Ukrainian geography.

Nationalism runs high in Russia, all the more so with the uncomfortable knowledge that once again, Russia appears to be on the odds with the West. That NATO, which they have been persuaded by the official Russian line on state security, is out to get them, to humiliate and to bully and to force their great country to its knees in agreeing that anti-ballistic missile launchers be situated in the geography of former Soviet satellite states, a clear threat to Russian sovereignty by their very presence.


And while it is true that Russia feels the sting of the ignominy of former satellite Soviet states -- neighbours whom they fondly believed enjoyed being dominated by Russian aggression -- making deliberate choices to align themselves with Western powers, with the European Union and NATO they've indulged in military excess. Their neighbours' presence, westward-leaning, averse to Moscow's ongoing interest under Vladimir Putin to resurrect the old alliances seems threatening to a country long accustomed to paranoia.

The demonstrators, in their numbers, chanted slogans such as "No to war", and "The junta is in the Kremlin, not Kyiv", did not endear themselves to the government. Clearly enough, these Russians at least didn't believe the Kremlin line that their selection for president of Ukraine was illegally removed through a fascist coup. City police preferred to offer their own numbers, that the crowd was comprised of a mere five thousand, whereas the Associated Press reported the presence of 20,000 demonstrators.


Coverage of the Kremlin-provoked crisis between Russia and  Ukraine has been portrayed as Russia merely taking back what was rightfully and historically its own, in securing the Crimean peninsula. State-controlled television channels had reported events in the context of a courageous group of pro-Russian militias insisting on their human rights, against a corrupt and rigidly fascist government in Kyiv. This story-line boosted nationalistic fervour in Russia, ensuring that anything Vladimir Putin launched would have public support.


Nationalists were present unfurling a banner denouncing "The March of Traitors", ensuring that at the very least a few scuffles between protesters and their adversaries would take place.

A Ukrainian security official in Kyiv noted that Russia-supported fighters continue their attacks, despite the ongoing ceasefire agreed to by both sides over two weeks earlier. Speaking for Ukraine's national security council, Col. Andriy Lysenko stated that about 40 rebels and two Ukrainian servicemen had died in clashes a day earlier.

Sporadic shelling on the outskirts of the strategic city of Mariupol took place Sunday and the night before. The September 5 ceasefire has been repeatedly violated. The plan called for the withdrawal of foreign fighters, the pull-back of heavy weapons, and for all military flights to be banned over the combat area. Russia has complied with the pull-back, but remains poised to react should Mr. Putin deem it necessary.

Labels: Aggression, Conflict, Propaganda, Russia, Secession, Ukraine

posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 22, 2014